After all the rumours, speculation, leaks and jockeying, Samsung has finally launched the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. And we were on hand to give it a proper fiddle with at the Korean manufacturer's launch event during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The new tablet is still dubbed the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but with its screen size in inches, 10.1, plastered onto the end. It sports a 1GHz dual-core processor, that eponymous (WXGA TFT LCD) touchscreen, with a 1280x800 resolution, and admirably runs the latest version of Android - Honeycomb (3.0) putting it firmly up against Motorola's forthcoming Xoom as an advocate of the new operating system. The new tablet also adopts a completely new design over the former Galaxy Tab.

Going for a thin and light approach, the new device weighs an astonishing 599g - feeling much like a happy medium between the iPad and a Kindle. You could imagine holding it for long periods while reading. It's also just 10.9mm thick.

Another iPad-beating feature is the 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, with auto focus functionality and an intuitive recording and stills capture user interface. There's also a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video calling, which is more than reasonable for that purpose.

Connectivity includes HSPA+ 21Mbps, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n. And the innards are bolstered with low power DDR2 memory and a long-life 6860mAh battery.

As is seemingly mandatory on Android devices these days, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has Flash 10.1 support and dual surround-sound speakers - although we're not quite sure how that works, as you'd have to hold it pretty close to a reflective surface to get any kind of surround effect. The audio, from our hands-on with the device, is definitely meatier than the most obvious rival, but further investigation is needed.

Formats supported include MPEG4, H263, and H264 video, and the device will support 1080p Full HD playback at 30fps and 1080p Full HD recording at 24fps. Obviously, as the screen is only 1280 x 800, that won't be applicable when running any footage back through the Tab 10.1's screen, but it is capable of outputting to a HD TV.

Other points of note include the mainstays of any modern portable device, a gyroscope, accelerometer, digital compass and proximity sensors.

We're not sure how much it'll set you back, and the only word on availability is "very soon" - that's directly from the horse's mouth. However, we do know that you'll be able to get the new Tab on Vodafone in the UK.